“Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” This is a very famous quote by Benjamin Franklin. I know it’s true. I have never felt sad after a few drinks with a few friends. I love my drinks. I know of many who feel the same. Of course, there are just too many instances where people just go overboard and become embarrassment. Definitely not cool!

I love my drinks. I started young, thanks to my dad. No, he didn’t pour a glass for me. I used to sip from my dad’s glass. I started with scotch, the one by Johnnie Walker, I think. Now generally in a lifecycle of a typical drinker, that’s the good expensive stuff. Luckily not for me. I started with scotch. As I passed out of college I shifted on beer, made sense for it’s cheap. Than on Bacardi, then for some time on vodka, then on some mixtures, not cocktails, but mixtures for whatever was available. The one that I remember is vodka with orange juice and then a dash of coca cola. We named it ‘Dirty’, because it looked like dirt in a glass, and we loved it. We tried with whisky, once in a while but could never get around it’s taste. This tryst with whisky continued for a while until I stumbled upon Jack Daniel and coke. Now that’s a match made in heaven. Adding coca-cola to whisky opened the doors to the enchanting and mysterious world of whiskies. The sweetness of the coke overpowered the bitter taste. A real connoisseur would be disgusted, but hey, I wanted to develop the palette for this. I tried the local Indian whiskies with coca cola. Royal Challenge…Signature…Antiquity…Teachers. I developed a hang of the bitter taste. As I got bold, it changed to club soda. And that’s where I am. Ofcourse, all along the way, Kingfisher beer has been one constant that has never gone against my taste buds.

All was well until I stumbled upon the new world of single malts. To the people used to blended scotch, single malts may sound rather boring, I mean why stick to a single malt, when you can have multiple blended to perfection, but today I am convinced that single malts is where one can separate boys from the man. My very close pal and me on the spur of the moment, bought a Glenmorangie. And after one sip, boys became man. Till that day, a whisky was all about its smoothness, after that, our vocabulary expanded to texture, smoky, fruity, palette, warmth, woody, finish. Today after many a tasting of the malts, I have concluded that a blended scotch can only vary on the smoothness unless you are an expert, which I am certainly not one, with JW Blue Label being the smoothest, but it’s when one delves in world of the single malts that one discovers the soul, the character.

PS- Kop is goan for a drink.. kop marta is asking if he would like to have a drink…